Feeling a Little Rebellious? Ignore These 3 Writing Rules

Everyone tells us what to do. Eat more fruit. Drink less alcohol. Get up early. Don’t jump red traffic lights. Hold the handrail.

I know I’m guilty, too. Almost weekly, I’ve been telling you how to write and which mistakes to avoid.

So, today is different. Today, we talk about rules you can ignore, so your writing life becomes a little easier, and perhaps your writing even gets better, too.

Okay?

Why you can ignore these rules

Imagine no traffic rules existed. No traffic lights, and no roundabouts. How would you get around your home town? Would traffic move faster or slower?

Traffic rules help us drive (or cycle or walk) both safer and faster. We can anticipate what others will do. We know when it’s our turn to cross safely. We avoid chaos on the road.

Writing rules are similar. They exist to avoid confusion, so readers can grasp your ideas without stumbling around. Without having to guess what you tried to say.

For instance, rules exist about spelling you’re vs your and their vs there. These are strict rules because a misspelling wrong-foots your readers.

Rules exist for concise writing, too. These rules are less strict, but important because unwieldy writing slows your readers down. That’s why we need to be careful with adverbs, eliminate the future tense, and avoid weak words.

But a small selection of rules is cosmetic. These rules are dreamed up by high school teachers who like telling us we’ve made mistakes. Well, let’s stop caring about these so-called mistakes because we’ve more important rules to worry about.

You can break this rule, because shorter sentences are easier to read. They add energy to your writing. And by starting with a word like And you stress a specific point in your writing.

Apple‘s copywriters, for instance, love starting a sentence with But or And.

Using 3D Touch to do more with your iPhone is as simple as pressing the display. But what’s happening underneath the surface is a sophisticated process.

When you merge the two sentences, the longer sentence becomes cumbersome and harder to understand:

Using 3D Touch to do more with your iPhone is as simple as pressing the display, but what’s happening underneath the surface is a sophisticated process.

Here’s another example:

Quick Actions let you do the things you do most often faster and in fewer steps. You can start a message to your favorite contacts. Or instantly bring up the camera to snap a selfie. Or immediately get directions home.

When you string the three sentences together, the rhythm changes:

Quick Actions let you do the things you do most often faster and in fewer steps. You can start a message to your favorite contacts, instantly bring up the camera to snap a selfie, or immediately get directions home.

Listen to the rhythm of your writing. Which version sounds better? Your writing requires a mix of long and snappy sentences.

Writing rule #2: Don’t use broken sentences

That’s why you should feel confident to use fragments instead of full sentences. Free yourself from the rule of broken sentences.

Apple’s copywriters love broken sentences, too:

12MP pictures. 4K videos. Live Photos. Lasting memories.

The rhythm changes when you use a full sentence instead:

The cameras feature 12MP pictures, 4K videos, and live photos for lasting memories.

Here’s another example:

The innovation begins from within. At every possible opportunity, iPhone 6s has been engineered to work better. More intuitively. And more efficiently.

The words intuitively and efficiently lose stress when you add them to the previous sentence:

The innovation begins from within. At every possible opportunity, iPhone 6s has been engineered to work better, more intuitively, and more efficiently.

Broken sentences add stress to specific phrases. They change the tone of your writing, making it snappier. And more energetic.

Writing rule #3: Each paragraph must contain three to five sentences

Who said that?

When each paragraph has the same number of sentences, your writing looks boring. Good writing is well designed. A one-sentence paragraph stands out, attracting your reader’s attention. It also breaks up a pattern of monotone blocks of text.

Here’s a fragment from All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr (one of my favorite reads this year):

Five streets north, a white-haired eighteen-year-old German private named Werner Pfennig wakes to a faint staccato hum. Little more than a purr. Flies tapping at a far-off window pane.

Where is he? The sweet, slightly chemical scent of gun oil; the raw wood of newly constructed shell crates; the mothballed odor of old bedspreads–he’s in the hotel. Of course. L’hôtel des Abeilles, the Hotel of Bees.

Still night. Still early.

From the direction of the sea come whistles and booms; flak is going up.

The number one rule of writing

Your job as a writer is to communicate your ideas. To allow readers to visualize your story and feel your words.

Hi Henneke, great to see you mentioning All the Light We Cannot See! What a beautifully written book. What a joy to read. Anthony Doerr’s imagery is wonderful: “The sky drops silver threads of sleet.” Simple yet stunning. Thank you very much for recommending it a few weeks ago.

Great post Henneke. Many writers are obsessed with writing “right”. When I edit manuscripts, aside from the proofing errors, I check the cadence, or the rhythm – above all else. Like a song that must be fine-tuned.

Phew! I started ignoring these rules a loooong time ago. And yes: I did it on purpose! 🙂 Forget them and you end up with a much more conversational tone. One of the most powerful (and easiest) ways to make your copy sound more natural and human.

I started breaking the rules of writing a long time ago. I didn’t always though.

I was still following the school mentality of not starting sentences with and , because, but … Mainly because I was taught that it was wrong. But I learned over my brief time blogging that it’s a rule to break.

For once I feel good because I started following this before reading it here lol.

Talking, however, tends to be quite wordy, and that’s what we don’t like in writing. So, yes, our writing should give the perception of being conversationally, but in reality our writing is still quite different from how we talk.

Rules, rules, rules! 3 more grammar rules! I will try applying all of them. Thanks, thanks, thanks! And… have yourself a wonderful rainy day in London, drinking a nice cup of green tea full of antioxidants.

There… I wrote for you a nice paragraph. Just practicing your teachings! And a poetry treat for you… while relaxing. This is a piece of a very old poetry of unknown authorship.

If the task is once began Never leave it till is done. Be la labor great or small… Do it well, or not at all.

I think it was David Ogilvy, famous ad man who gave the following advice. He said use short words, short sentences, and short paragraphs. God knows it worked for him! And much to my husband’s head-shaking, I love starting sentences with “And.”

All Hail Fellow Rule Breakers! I do love this post. It is even sweeter to break the rules when you know what they are in the first instance. Delish fun!

I read this quote recently and it resonated with me… “Rules should be questioned, tested, reviewed over time and broken if they are not law or commandment.” Jeffrey Hayzlett, Think Big, Act Bigger. Cheers Henneke – more please with relish. Nicole The HR Rule Breaker

I must agree that rules are made to be broken…but not all of them as you point out. However, as a teacher and writer I think that one should first master the rules before breaking them. When you can write using all grammar and spelling correctly, then it’s time to break free and make your own rules. It’s like learning a language – you can’t speak the slang before knowing the right way.

Hmm rules! I remember them vaguely. 🙂 Seriously though, they help. Most of them came in when printing made reading more available to the masses in books for example. Making the English language standard meant more people could learn to read and write and become more socially mobile and educated.

British English is a little different from American English. Although, the American influence, as always, affects British English, especially spelling, e.g. we used to spell “jail” as “gaol”, hence Oscar Wilde’s “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”.

My spelling is atrocious! But I try. Still, rules help develop skill, as @AntoniaKZ says. Only then can you break them and be brilliant. Even Picasso learnt to draw and paint by following the rules. Only then could he break them so brilliantly.

You forgot jaywalking!! Rebellious Dutch, like you and me, do that too. Here in the US they get the jitters from that when I do that, love it. Great article, thanks. Yep, I am breaking those rules all the time. I write like I talk. If you like it great, if you don’t great. And so it is …. Keep going Henneke, PS Who on Earth coughed up all those rules anyway? Humans, right? Well, I am human and I make my own rules. And as long as they do not harm anybody I just keep doing my thing. Cheers from lovely warm Phoenix, Elvire

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About Henneke

I never saw myself as a writer, but in my early forties, I learned how to write and discovered the joy of writing. Now, I’d like to empower you to find your voice, share your ideas and inspire your audience.Learn how I can help you